FTR #488 Funny Money, Covert Operations & Electoral Fraud

Recorded November 28, 2004REALAUDIONB: This stream contains both FTR #s 487 and 488 in sequence. Each is a 30 minute broadcast.

1. The program begins by reprising a section of an excellent article about BCCI by the brilliant Lucy Komisar. (This article was a major focal point of FTR#485.) The excerpt presented in this program highlights the pivotal role of BCCI in the Iran-Contra and Iraqgate scandals and the related arms and drug trafficking operations involved with both. BCCI was also at the epicenter of the Afghan mujahideen support effort, which also involved the arms for drugs merry-go-round that we’ve seen so often in our studies of covert operations. The article points out that money laundering appears to have been an almost formal raison d’etre for the bank. Of particular significance is the profound relationship between the Bush family and the Middle Eastern personages at the core of the bank’s operations. As we saw in—among other programs—FTR#’s 356, 357, 462, 464, the elder George Bush’s involvement with covert operations and his relationship with the Saudi power elite set the stage for wealthy Saudis connected to BCCI to buy their way into favor with the younger George Bush. Much of Bush’s business career in the oil business was capitalized by Saudis connected to the BCCI milieu. The failure of investigators to come to terms with the BCCI case set the stage for the perpetuation of these corrupt relationships. The Bush/Saudi/BCCI/Enron nexus appears to have set the stage for the financing of the theft of the 2004 election.

BCCI was founded in 1972 by Pakistani banker Agha Hasan Abedi and initially capitalized by Sheik Zayed of Abu Dhabi. It incorporated in the bank secrecy jurisdiction of Luxembourg but operated out of London. During two decades, it expanded to 73 countries worldwide, with nearly a million depositors with accounts totaling more than $10 billion. When the bank was finally shut down nearly 20 years later, between $9.5 and $15 billion, the analysts differ, had been lost or stolen, making this the biggest bank fraud in the world.

2. Much of the broadcast focused on two articles authored by Wayne Madsen for OnlineJournal. The articles allege that the same nexus of covert operations, funny money and Saudi-related entities that figured in the BCCI imbroglio were front and center in a heinous example of election fraud. A few days after this program was aired, the fact that the $29 million check which was a central part of this investigation was fake. Obviously, this casts some doubt on the other aspects of the investigation. Not that this necessarily invalidates the point that Wayne makes here. ONE WONDERS IF THE KARL ROVE MACHINE IS AT WORK HERE. THIS FEELS SOMEWHAT LIKE THE STING PERPETRATED ON 60 MINUTES AND DAN RATHER. IS “BUSH’S BRAIN” DELIBERATELY SEEDING THE INVESTIGATION OF VOTING FRAUD WITH DISINFORMATION? FOOD FOR THOUGHT AND GROUNDS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH.

November 25, 2004—According to informed sources in Washington and Houston, the Bush campaign spent some $29 million to pay polling place operatives around the country to rig the election for Bush. The operatives were posing as Homeland Security and FBI agents but were actually technicians familiar with Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S, Triad, Unilect, and Danaher Controls voting machines. These technicians reportedly hacked the systems to skew the results in favor of Bush.

November 26, 2004—Additional information on the buying of vote riggers with Saudi and former Enron funds has been obtained. The epicenter for the vote rigging operation is Dallas, Texas, and the operation may involve retired FBI agents who used a well-established “good ole boy” network to arrange for access to polling precincts by electronic voting machine technicians who took advantage of various November 2 security “lockdowns” to illegally alter the tabulation of votes in favor of Bush. Some of the retired agents may have used courtesy credentials issued upon retirement to fool unsuspecting polling place workers.